Assembly of delegates at the Rhine knee

Union secretary Jessica Frossard opened the AGM in the rehearsal room of the Basel Symphony Orchestra with alphorn and yodel. Co-Central President Davide Jäger then welcomed the delegates and representatives of important Swiss music institutions as guests. He pointed out that the SMV is celebrating its 110th birthday this year and has made the lives of musicians better and safer. Co-Central President Muriel Noble wished the association continued enthusiasm, courage and patience. Small steps would move it forward. In his welcoming address, central board member Markus Forrer from the Basel section mentioned how incredibly many orchestras and concerts of all styles, from early to contemporary music, there are in the city, as well as a large music academy that is constantly "producing" talented young musicians. A lot of music for a medium-sized city of just over 170,000 inhabitants, Forrer found. With so much light, there are also shadows: an initiative for more musical diversity, which easily achieved the required 3,000 votes, demands that free, non-institutional music creation in the canton of Basel-Stadt be supported with at least a third of the annual music budget in future. The initiators criticize the fact that 90% of public funding goes to orchestras and classical music institutions (including early and contemporary music) and that taxpayers' money is used to unilaterally support a specific type of music. In their opinion, the wide range of music on offer in the city, which in addition to classical music also includes blues, electronica, hip-hop, jazz, pop, rock, metal, world music, dance and much more, only exists thanks to independent musicians.

Controversial initiative

Franziskus Theurillat, Orchestra Director of the Basel Symphony Orchestra and Co-President of the Basel Cultural Policy Network Association, explained his view of the initiative to the delegates: although it would offer great opportunities and the concerns of the initiators would be met with a certain degree of understanding, existing institutions would risk massive cuts and their continued existence would even be jeopardized. The cantonal government and the Education and Culture Commission have spoken out against the initiative. The Verein Netzwerk Kulturpolitik Basel, whose members include almost twenty Basel cultural institutions, is now calling for a counter-proposal to the initiative, which would propose implementation through an increase in the budget and would also include additional program, venue and structural funding for institutions that are home to and promote the independent scene. Theurillat pointed out that the canton of Basel-Stadt had generated huge surpluses in recent years and could easily afford the additional expenditure of around CHF 8.1 million for culture.

Approval of the association's work

The minutes of the last AGM on June 15, 2023, the activity report of the Central Secretary Beat Santschi and the annual accounts of the Central Fund, the Death Fund and the Solidarity Fund as well as the 2024 budget were then approved and the positive report of the Audit Committee was acknowledged. The Board of Directors and the Central Secretary were discharged unanimously. There were no surprises in the elections either: All previous representatives on the Central Committee, commissions and institutions were unanimously re-elected, as were the Co-Central Presidents and the Central Secretary. Muriel Noble and Elisabeth Goering (as deputy) were elected to the feminist commission of the SGB and Sebastian Schindler was elected to represent the SMV on the SON Foundation Board. New members of the Audit Committee are Maximilian Näscher and Stefanie Sampaio de Medeiros (as deputy). Catherine Suter and Luca Borioli are leaving the Board of Directors. We will commemorate their achievements at a later date and introduce the newly elected Central Committee member Birgit Thorgerd Müller. At the Presidents' Conference, which took place before the DM, it was proposed that a so-called "temp traffic light" be introduced for Switzerland, as published online by unisono in Germany, which would make it immediately clear whether orchestras are fully, partially or not at all adhering to the SMV tariffs when paying newcomers.